Mostly He Won

The 1972 world championship chess match between Bobby Fischer of the United States and Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union was an event of international importance—and a media bonanza. Fischer himself was a singular character study, and the circumstances of the match in Iceland led to bizarre complications. The New Yorker writer Jeremy Bernstein came to Reykjavik to report on these affairs—but via a circuitous route that featured William Shawn, the New Yorker’s editor; Arthur C. Clarke, the renowned writer of science fiction; Stanley Kubrick, the famed filmmaker; and Playboy magazine. Out of this heady mix, Bernstein fashions a tale of large personalities involved in an intense, brainy competition.